'Islands of Experience' is an exceptional collection of poetry. It
carries a punch that all readers will feel, yet its power is tempered by
subtlety and delicacy of language that will make readers linger over
each line. The words themselves are simple, yet deep enough to challenge
the profound thinker. They render to simple things an awe-inspiring
grandeur and reduce the enormous to almost nothing. Many of these poems
deal with Alaskan scenes. Here is an excerpt from Snowbound: Softly,
silently, stealthily now, the soft snow steals away the freedom of
travel the sourdough knew on the trails of the summer day. Warm in his
cabin, snug in the snow, it's here that peace is found. It's here that
the cares of the world are gone. Who cares if he is snowbound? Looking
back on a full and varied life, Dean Nichols casts a discerning eye on
the tangibles and intangibles of existence. In this except from The End?
he touches upon one of life's crucial questions: Ah, so 'tis happiness
you seek, my friend; is that your goal? Take care, lest on its placid
sea you strike a shoal that pinions you and holds you fast, so that for
you there is no future, only past. Vital, energetic, yet serene, Dean
Nichols' poems challenge the reader to look around him and within him.
The author comments, I would not ask you to share with me the mainland
of my life; for who has half a century to spare? But I invite you to
share with me a few of these islands of experience and through them
catch a glimpse of an untraveled world.
